Are snails poisonous to dogs ?

Asha

Asha

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Had an awful morning with Stirling, hes been sick between 15-20 times since 07.30 -12.30 . Bright yellow with white foamy bits. Even water is coming back up. So took him to the vets and they are xraying him as they think it may be a foreign object.
When i got home i noticed he had been sick in the back of the pick up, and in the sick was a whole snail , It was black and yellow. Ive told the vets just in case.

Im just sat waiting very impatiently for an update, so thought id ask you good folk if you you thought it was relevant ?
 
I would think so, I’m not sure if they are fatal when eaten but I am very careful when my dogs are in the garden after the rain as there seem to be lots of slugs and snails around
 
That would certainly be a good candidate for the cause. I don't think they are poisonous per se, but certainly don't belong in a dogs stomach. Mine will regurgitate/sick up bits of cartilage and bone if they are bigger than a pea.

P.S. snails are not good, they carry liver fluke.
 
Obviously not the same thing (but maybe have some of the same components) but when my dog ate a jellyfish he was violently ill for about 12 hours and then completely fine again. Fingers crossed your pup feels better soon!
 
Vet has just called, they are keeping him in overnight. Nothing shown up on xray and his bloods are normal. Hes still being sick and is now dehydrated. So they are getting fluids into him and giving him some anti sickness medication. They say hes very lethargic. His colon is full of poo, so they are hoping he will pass that, and that may help show something up on the xray tomorrow. They mentioned key hole to look into his tummy, but weve agreed to try the anti sickness and wait until tomorrow. I do hope it doesnt come to that. If he is sick after the anti sickness meds then they will operate. I hate leaving him there, but its definitely the right thing to do.
 
Katieg123 said:
Obviously not the same thing (but maybe have some of the same components) but when my dog ate a jellyfish he was violently ill for about 12 hours and then completely fine again. Fingers crossed your pup feels better soon!
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i hope its something like that, as im getting a bit worried now
 
They can carry lots of nasties, unfortunately. He's in the best place and hopefully it will pass quickly. My young female was violently ill for 24 hours a few years ago, they admitted her immediately, I thought she was dying, the next morning they called me to come and get her as she'd pulled the drip out and was eating the vet bed.
 
Cortez said:
That would certainly be a good candidate for the cause. I don't think they are poisonous per se, but certainly don't belong in a dogs stomach. Mine will regurgitate/sick up bits of cartilage and bone if they are bigger than a pea.

P.S. snails are not good, they carry liver fluke.
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skinnydipper said:
Dogs can get lungworm if they eat an infected snail.
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just googled both of those, crikey hope he doesnt have either of those. I have told the vet about the snail, she did say they would give him some more wormer, dont know if that will help prevent either of those ?
 
Erm, I'm not a vet, but if it was my dog I'd not be in any kind of rush to be going a surgical route. Dogs are basically rubbish bins and they are designed to puke up anything that shouldn't be in there. They can do alarming things from both ends and then be absolutely fine once whatever it is has been vacated. Obviously if there is anything stuck in there it need to be taken out (I had a dog who ate a pair of tights that needed operating on), but most things resolve🤞
 
CorvusCorax said:
They can carry lots of nasties, unfortunately. He's in the best place and hopefully it will pass quickly. My young female was violently ill for 24 hours a few years ago, they admitted her immediately, I thought she was dying, the next morning they called me to come and get her as she'd pulled the drip out and was eating the vet bed.
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thats made me laugh, thank you ! ( the bit about eating the bed that is) Glad your dog recovered well, im hoping i get the same call tomorrow. Did you find out what caused it ?
 
My parents' adult yellow Lab bitch made herself ill by eating snails. They really struggled to stop her crunching them, even after a trip to the vets. Sorry it is so long ago that I can't remember the details but I do know that she lived for many years after this.
 
Just a question …..with the snail comment……any chance of exposure /access to any poisons or chemicals of any kind in the garden/house/stables etc…as Cortez says, they can be such dustbins!
 
Cortez said:
Erm, I'm not a vet, but if it was my dog I'd not be in any kind of rush to be going a surgical route. Dogs are basically rubbish bins and they are designed to puke up anything that shouldn't be in there. They can do alarming things from both ends and then be absolutely fine once whatever it is has been vacated. Obviously if there is anything stuck in there it need to be taken out (I had a dog who ate a pair of tights that needed operating on), but most things resolve🤞
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totally agree, i really dont want any form of op if it can be avoided.
quizzie said:
Just a question …..with the snail comment……any chance of exposure /access to any poisons or chemicals of any kind in the garden/house/stables etc…as Cortez says, they can be such dustbins!
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i asked the vets if it was poisoning , and they say his bloods seem fine. We did some weed killing ( with a pet friendly one) about 2 weeks ago, but hes been nowhere that area. He does go for walks across some farmland, my daughter mentioned he ate something yesterday morning in the field, no idea what it was as he had swallowed it by the time my daughter had run over to him. Shes feeling really bad, thinks its her fault. Ive told her its not, but she feels awful.
 
Asha said:
totally agree, i really dont want any form of op if it can be avoided.

i asked the vets if it was poisoning , and they say his bloods seem fine. We did some weed killing ( with a pet friendly one) about 2 weeks ago, but hes been nowhere that area. He does go for walks across some farmland, my daughter mentioned he ate something yesterday morning in the field, no idea what it was as he had swallowed it by the time my daughter had run over to him. Shes feeling really bad, thinks its her fault. Ive told her its not, but she feels awful.
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Hopefully it was just something a bit manky and it's upset him.
 
Asha said:
i asked the vets if it was poisoning , and they say his bloods seem fine. We did some weed killing ( with a pet friendly one) about 2 weeks ago, but hes been nowhere that area. He does go for walks across some farmland, my daughter mentioned he ate something yesterday morning in the field, no idea what it was as he had swallowed it by the time my daughter had run over to him. Shes feeling really bad, thinks its her fault. Ive told her its not, but she feels awful.
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I was thinking mostly of snail poison, or a pool of something spilt....anything he ate in the field 24 hrs before symptoms started is far more likely to be a bit of decomposing "something"....and if nothing seen on X-ray, shouldn't be a bit of bone stuck.
I have seen issues with things like corn on the cob or plastic bags that don't show on X-ray, but block the exit to the stomach...but those often pass through slowly...I'm sure they'll keep a good eye on him....don't panic!
 
quizzie said:
I was thinking mostly of snail poison, or a pool of something spilt....anything he ate in the field 24 hrs before symptoms started is far more likely to be a bit of decomposing "something"....and if nothing seen on X-ray, shouldn't be a bit of bone stuck.
I have seen issues with things like corn on the cob or plastic bags that don't show on X-ray, but block the exit to the stomach...but those often pass through slowly...I'm sure they'll keep a good eye on him....don't panic!
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you could be onto something there. I have seen some corn in that field before.

On a positive note they weighed him, and since hes been allowed proper exercise ( 2 ops for elbow dysplasia) hes dropped 2 kilo. Now 32kg. TBF, he does look lean / fit/muscled now.
 
If bloods are fine thats a good sign re poisoning.
The neighbours dog used to try to eat/kill the bog toads locally. I recall him wretching yellow foamy vomit on a few occassions. I think the slime frogs and snails produce causes instant vomiting.
Even my male cat catches toads and brings them home, but thankfully even him, master killer, dare not actually bite into one…theyre just very curious to him!

Hopefully your pup will recover in the coming hours as it sounds like there’s been plenty of evacuating the contents, and thats a good thing, but he’ll feel so weak due to it. He’s a curious pup to eat a snail! Fingers crossed you get the call tomorrow that he’s strong enough to return home.
 
Asha said:
thats made me laugh, thank you ! ( the bit about eating the bed that is) Glad your dog recovered well, im hoping i get the same call tomorrow. Did you find out what caused it ?
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Not exactly, but that day we had gone for a walk at lunch time and she snarfed something off the ground that looked like another dog's puke, so that is what I put it down to. She is an utter delight.
 
PurBee said:
If bloods are fine thats a good sign re poisoning.
The neighbours dog used to try to eat/kill the bog toads locally. I recall him wretching yellow foamy vomit on a few occassions. I think the slime frogs and snails produce causes instant vomiting.
Even my male cat catches toads and brings them home, but thankfully even him, master killer, dare not actually bite into one…theyre just very curious to him!

Hopefully your pup will recover in the coming hours as it sounds like there’s been plenty of evacuating the contents, and thats a good thing, but he’ll feel so weak due to it. He’s a curious pup to eat a snail! Fingers crossed you get the call tomorrow that he’s strong enough to return home.
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Thank you purbee.
 
It does seem wierd as humans eat snails. If you want to eat garden snails you must put them in a plastic box and feed them on lettuce for a time. But ours come tinned from a French grocer.
 
I hope your dog recovers soon Asha, and that you find out what it was so you can try to avoid a repeat occurrence. It is frustrating that dogs will insist on trying to eat anything at least once, although at least they are usually fairy quick to bring it back up again.

I can certainly empathise: my mother's dog is the most orally-fixated dog I've ever known, and if she spots something 'interesting' it goes straight in her mouth at the speed of light. This has included metal bottle tops and pieces of glass, as well as several disgusting things, and makes her hard work to walk anywhere humans may have dropped things. Fortunately she is very happy to sit there and let you fish around in her mouth to retrieve whatever she is hiding, and other than the odd minor stomach upset she has been fine (and is 9 now). Unfortunately she has a predilection for slugs and snails and will crunch through as many as she can find in the garden, so has to be supervised when let out to toilet after dark/when it's wet. Rotten shellfish on the beach are another favoured delicacy 🤮

Just to clarify, as she isn't my dog I can't work on training, but the family all watch her and immediately empty her mouth of anything she shouldn't have in there. She has lots of toys at home and doesn't eat anything inappropriate indoors.

It is a worry when you don't know exactly what it is that they've eaten, so it sounds very sensible that your dog is staying at the vets until some improvement is seen (or the cause is detected). I hope you are ok tonight, dogs leave a big hole when they aren't at home with you where they should be.
 
It could be a maize cob, my Labrador ate all sorts of things he wasn’t supposed to despite pretty strict supervision he could be very quick.
He managed to swallow a whole dead baby pigeon whilst on a lead, with no effect on him what’s so ever but one small pice of maize picked up in a field needed an operation to remove it, apparently they are one of the most common causes of blockage. He threw up some bits but no all of it and we had no choice but surgery.
 
Mine (Bear and Zak) were obsessed with picking up snails and trying to eat them. I was forever worried about lungworm. Blasted scavengers! Sounds like your girl is doing well!
 
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